45.12: Wide Awake (Fairest Volume 1, issues 1-7), by Bill Willingham and Phil Jimenez (2012 trade paperback)

In 2012, the comic series Fables (reviewed here and here) did a 6-issue story arc featuring Cinderella (review here). Likely based on its popularity, and (I'd hazard) the increasing number of female comics readers, the women of Fables are going it alone. Well, mostly alone.

The first story arc of Fairest features Briar Rose, with male hero Ali Baba, a bottle imp, the Snow Queen, and a cool collection of powerful women deities. The initial premise was actually established in issue 107 of the Fables series (in trade 16), but you don't need to read it to make sense of the story. After all, most of us know Briar Rose and her story from tales of childhood. If not, here's you chance to catch up now and get in on the ground floor of what promises to be a great new series. 

44.12: Coda, by Emma Trevayne (Advance Uncorrected Proof, to be released May 2013)

I picked up this advance reader copy of Coda at the NCTE convention in Las Vegas in November, and it intrigued me enough to make me pick it up ahead of the (likely hundred) books ahead of it in my to-be-read pile. For readers interested in technology, music, and/or dystopic literature, it's a great selection.

Anthem lives in a world where music is the basis of socital organization--and control. After a war of undetermined nature, the Corp has established a system of energy development using humans, with music as the driving force and drug of choice. Adults tune in to music--and, indeed, are required to do so lest they have the police call upon them--and "track" for entertainment, mood enhancement, and survival--paying credits for each encoded (brainwashing) song on the basis of strength and need. With the commoditization of music comes its tight control, so Anthem and a group of friends secretly practice on improvised and blackmarket instruments, building up a sound that they hope will start a revolution.

Trevayne's first book is interesting, sort of a teen-targeted early William Gibson novel. While less gritty than that in Gibson's Cyberpunk tomes, Trevayne's alternate world is also one in which technology has changed the shape of society. Whether the change is for better or worse depends on who is ultimately in control.  

42-43.12: Super Team (Fables Volume 16, issues 100-107) and Inherit the Wind (Fables Volume 17, issues 108-113), by Bill Willingham, Mark Buckingham, Steve Leialoha, and others (2011 and 2012 trade paperbacks)

These are numbers 16 and 17 in the Fables series, so we're far into the plot by this point. I've provided an overview of the premise in my review of trades 14 and 15, so I'd recommend you check it out first (at this link) to get an overview of the series.

Trade sixteen details the efforts of the Fables living in Haven, a temporary escape from enemy Mister Dark, to develop a super team of fighters to battle against evil. Led by the powerful witch Ozma, with advice about Super Hero mythology from Pinocchio, the team begins training for the confrontation, only to have the need cut short by a sacrifice from unexpected corners.The bonus issue in the collection sets up the premise for the first story arc in the new Fairest series--which will focus on the female fables--with the story of Briar Rose. I've recently finished that first trade, so I'll post my review soon.

Trade seventeen focuses on the children of Bigby Wolf and Snow White--the grandchildren of the North Wind. To continue the family tradition of guarding the north, one of the children must be identified as successor, so a series of trials are held to determine which of the young cubs (actually flying children) will prevail. The bonus issue following this story arc involved Beauty, of Beauty and the Beast fame, so I'm guessing that trade two of Fairest will pick the story up as well.

Of all the comics still in process, the Fables series if my favorite, and it's a great one to start off with if you are considering an investigation of modern adult comics.

41.12: The Diviners, by Libba Bray (2012 hardcover)

In my last post, I commented on how impressed I am with the range of subjects written about by author Maggie Stefvieter. Double that for Libba Bray! The first of her books I picked up was Beauty Queens (review here), a hilarious satire wherein an airplane of teen beauty contestants crash lands on an island housing a secret military base--a bit Lord of the Flies with curling irons. Upon finishing that book, I quickly picked up Going Bovine (review here), featuring a teen boy who contracts mad cow disease and sets of on an adventure to save himself and/or the world. After that, I ventured into Bray's early writing, which was set in the past and featured a paranormal theme and cast of characters in an English boarding school (see brief review of A Great and Terrible Beauty here). In The Diviners, she's returned to that paranormal world but has chosen Prohibition-era New York City as the backdrop.

While I still have a preference for her two contemporary books, The Diviners is an interesting and complex story, and it provides insight to 1920s America, the rise of the modern world, and the contrasting fascination that the occult held for people of the time. The female protagonist is sent to live with her bachelor uncle when a party trick turns sour. As we learn, her ability to divine the truth about people by holding one of their possessions was the cause for the uproar; she (accurately) publicly identifies the fact that the son of a wealthy man has impregnated a servant, so her parents send her away to let the uproar--caused by what they try to pass off as an unfortunate wild guess--dies down.

It's a case of out of the frying pan and into the fire. Once in NYC, our heroine is quickly embroiled in a series of murders involving the paranormal. Her uncle, as it turns out, is curator for a museum of the odd and supernatural, and he serves as consultant to the police on the murders. And, a range of other diviners--with a slate of unusual abilities--are slowly drawn to each other. Few of them play much of a roll in the final events of this book, which makes it pretty clear that we'll get to see more of this sequence in the future.

40.12: The Raven Boys, by Maggie Stiefvater (2012 hardcover)

I'm impressed with Maggie Stiefvater's range of subjects in her teen novels. She started out with the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy (review here) depicting a girl in love with a werewolf, which is pretty standard fare in TeenLit these days. However, after that she released Scorpio Races (This appears to be a book I read over the last year or two but forgot to add to my blog. It was excellent, though!) about a world where fierce horses rise from the waters and sometime kill humans and at other times are captured and trained by humans to compete in a deadly race. In Raven Boys she take a different direction again, entering the world of the paranormal.

Blue is the female protagonist in the book, and her mother and aunts are all psychics. Despite the family legacy, Blue doesn't have psychic abilities herself--but she does intensify the abilities of those nearby her. Since she was born it has been foretold that she will kiss her love and he will die. That's quite the story to enter puberty with, and she's stayed away from boys for the most part--especially those from the fancy prep school in town. Enevitably, though, she is swept up by a group of those boys--raven boys because of the school mascot--in their quest to find the ley lines that mark the burial site of an English knight (oddly buried on the east coast of America) and have their wishes come true.

The story involves fortune telling, ghost sighting, card reading, romance, and murder, and it moves along at a pretty quick clip. Steifvater is an excellent storyteller, and while the romance end of things makes it clear that her target audience is teen girls, the characters and story in this book and Scorpio Races make it interesting for adults as well.
 

39.12: The Twelve (Book 2 of The Passage Trology), by Justin Cronin (2012 hardcover)

This book is the sequel to The Passage, which was published in 2010. I had originally planned to link to my entry for that book and tell you that it would fill in the early story, but as it turns out, I don't have an entry for that book. I must have started the blog after reading it--or simply forgot to write about it afterward. It happens.

So, if you want the details for the first book, you'll have to look elsewhere. Suffice it to say that I enjoyed The Passage enough that I was pretty excited to see The Twelve on the shelve of my local bookstore. It stars PostApocalyptic vampires, so what's not to like? As in most vampire books, there's a special twist here, and in this case a mutated strain of a bat virus infects the human poulation and turns them into horrific killing machines. Even better, the virus was purposely mutated by military scientists and tested on (Twelve) serial killers and likewise stellar citizens. Who could have foreseen that plan going awry? 

Based on this premise, the first book explores the world post-virus--cosisting of human enclaves huddled in highly reinforced walled cities shining bright lights out into the desolate surroundings. (Vampires hate light, if you were unaware of this fact.) A small group of people eventually leave one of these enclaves in search of the origin of the problem, and book one follows their journey. In book two, we go both back and forward in time to see more about how these situation developed, increase the cast of characters (necessary when folks keep getting killed off), and build hope that the human race will survive. The ending is appropriately ambiguous to allow for what will surely be the third novel in a trilogy. 

While the sequel wasn't quite as riveting as its predecessor, it's worth reading if you liked The Passage. And, I enjoyed it enough that I will keep my eyes peeled for volume three.  

38.12: Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcom Gladwell (2008 hardcover)

This book was published a number of years ago, but it is the 2012 Book of the Year selection at Humboldt State University and College of the Redwoods, our local university and community college. I picked a copy up at Eureka Books in Old Town for five or six dollars, and Eddie and I decided to read it together. It always takes us some time to get through our joint selections, as our read-aloud time is generally restricted to road trips (One of my many talents is that I can read while riding in a car without getting sick) and lazy mornings in bed, of which there have been very few in recent busy months. Our recent Thanksgiving travels to and from Portland allowed us the time needed to conclude the book, though, and we thoroughly enjoyed it.

Gladwell's premise is quite interesting: that success is often partly the result of unrecognized factors such as the month or year of one's birth or country of origin rather than the ones we most give credit to, such as brilliance and hard work. He's not saying that the more traditionally-attributed things aren't also important, but he builds a strong case for the fact that an individual's--or even a group's--success is frequently predicated on circumstances beyond his/her control, and often due to the efforts of others. From Canadian hockey players, to Jewish lawyers in NYC, to Chinese rice farmers, he demonstrates his theory in a compelling manner. It's a thought-provoking take on what it really means to be successful: both effort and luck in combination. 

37.12: The Casual Vacancy, by J.K. Rowling (2012 hardcover, borrowed from Laurie)

I'm an average Harry Potter fan, so I was interested to read Rowling's first novel written for an adult audience. My friend Laurie--a huge HP fan who teaches a Potter-themed freshman composition course--lent me the book, and I'm glad that I didn't spend my own money on it. The novel, depicting what I must imagine is intended to be a typical small, gossipy British town, fell short of my expectations. The characters were not sympathetic, and I wasn't really invested in the outcome of the novel. Come to think of it, it's been only a few weeks since I read it, and I'm not entirely sure what that outcome was. I'll likely read another Rowling novel (surely her level of fame and fortune will allow her another even after this loser), but if she doesn't convince me with that one, I'll stick to my fond memories of and/or reread HP.

36.12: City of Lost Souls (Mortal Instruments Book 5), by Cassandra Clare (2012 hardcover)

The latest in the series starring Shadowhunter Clary, her Shadowhunter society, nemesis (brother), and love interest (who she once thought was her brother), and her vampire (former love interest) and werewolf friends. Okay, so it sounds a bit cliche, but this is a decent teen series with just enough interesting non-romantic developments to keep me reading. Click on "Clare" in my word cloud to the right to get reviews of the Mortal Instruments books--and the prequel Infernal Devices books that start 100 years before Clary shows up.

35.12: The Kill Order, by James Dashner. (2012 hardcover)

This is a prequel to The Maze Runner series, so I'd really recommend that you start there before reading this one. I read books one and two in 2011 and book three earlier this year, and you can check out my reviews at this link and this link. Overall, this was a good addition to the series, and I look forward to what I assume will be a second prequel release--forming an eventual trilogy (pre-trilogy?) of its own--if things go according to the seemingly usual release schedule of TeenLit. 

34.12: A Life of Bright Ideas, by Sandra Kring (2012 paperback, loaned by Diqui)

I'm pretty sure my friend Diqui loaned me this book, so it isn't one that I chose myself. However, it was a good read, and I'd recommend it to someone looking for a thoughtful ChickLit selection--perfect for the beach or airplane in particular. The cover of the book quotes Booklist as saying, "A novel about friendship and sisterhood for readers who like Fannie Flagg and Adriana Tragiani," and I'd say that's quite accurate.

The book is set in the early 1970s, when two childhood friends are reunited. Despite the different directions they have taken--hometown, responsible girl versus free-spirited hippie--in the nine years since they last saw each other, Button and Winnalee instantly rekindle a deep friendship. With a cast of other strong women models, and a few men in the background, they forge a partnership to redefine who they are and where they are headed. There are the expected ups and down, with ups winning overall, making this is a slightly sentimental but well-written summer book.

33.12 : False Memory, by Dan Krokos (2012 Advance reader paperback)

I picked up this advance proof in the free box at my local bookstore, Northtown Books, some time ago, so it wasn't really on my radar. When I read the author bio before starting the book, my expectations weren't too high, as this is the first novel published by 26-year-old Krokos. Despite this inauspicious start, the book proved to be interesting enough that I read it over the course of two evenings, staying up until 1:00 am on the second night to finish it. (If you know me at all, you know that's late for me.) It's a solid TeenLit read, of the we're-being-experimented-on/-used for-nefarious-purposes genre of teen books. Okay, so that may not be an official literary genre, but if you read enough TeenLit, you certainly can recognize it as a clear type.

The novel begins with Miranda gaining consciousness in an Ohio shopping mall with no memory other than her name. She quickly learns that she is not the typical teen, however, as her confusion and fear lead her to start a panicked stampede in the mall that results in the deaths of several people. She does this, a boy named Peter who has tracked her to this mall informs her, with her brainwaves. Unable to doscount this fact due to a loss of memory, and the all-too-clear evidence of trampled bodies, she accepts Peter's word and heads "home" with him.

Home ends up being an underground bunker in rural Ohio, where Miranda learns that she is a Rose--a genetically altered teen whose purpose will be to avoid violent bloodshed. Or so she and the three other Roses (called such because they can detect each other's brainwaves by the scent of roses) have been raised to believe. Since I already told you the genre we're working with, you know just how likely that peaceful scenario is.

Although it's a new twist on a common theme, replete with handsome love interests, the sciency nature of the premise--as well as some good action and plot turns--make this a good read. I'll keep my eyes out for future Krokos books, which will likely include the sequel this obviously set up.

32.12: The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest, by Stieg Larsson (iBook, originally published 2010)

I read and commented on the first two novels in Larsson's trilogy earlier this summer, but it took me some time to get back to my iPad and finish the third. Traveling to and from Comic Con earlier this month gave me the perfect opportunity to finish things up, and thrillers tend to be perfect airport and airplane reading--exciting enough to keep my attention but not deep enough to require real focus. All in all, I'd say that the third book follows through well and keeps the momentum started in the second book of the trilogy.

At first I was skeptical that the plot established in volume two would sustain itself for a whole third volume, but Larsson does a good job creating and revealing a complicated government conspiracy--overflowing with bad guys of all types that just can't stop doing bad stuff. It's scary and evil, but just bungled and self-serving enough to make it believable. Even more remarkably, Larsson manages to make the generally unlikeable Salander, the primary victim/protagonist of the series, a sympathetic character. I've been trying to think of a comparable literary accomplishment, but nothing comes to mind. I mean, even the people who support and defend this girl for a variety of reasons don't know how to relate to her, can't really say she is their friend, and are hard pressed to say that they really like her. Yet, somehow I actually cared about what happened to her. 

Maybe it's a Swedish thing. Until I read Lars Keplar and Hakan Nesser, as recommended by a friend and my mom, I can't be too sure.

31.12: In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination, by Margaret Atwood (iBook edition, original release 2011)

I earned a MA in literature, and my field of interest was primarily contemporary North American feminist authors. I also have what a librarian friend not-so-jokingly refers to as "the largest comic and graphic novel collection in northern California." As you may suspect, it is not too often that these two reading passions intersect, so it was with great joy that I scanned the 2012 Comic Con schedule and found a session entitled "Inside the Shadow Show: Ray Bradbury's Lasting Impact  on Literature, Comics, and Beyond," featuring Margaret Atwood--three of whose novels formed the basis of my thesis.

I wasn't so far astray from my early roots to have missed the Atwood's recent novels and poetry, of course, but I hadn't been keeping up on her nonfiction. The closest I'd come in this regard was following her on Twitter, where she has plenty to say on a wide range of political and social topics. (Note: unlike plenty of other well-known folks, Atwood is responsible for all her own tweets.) Before I saw my idol in person, I searched to see what I had missed. In addition to a few recent digital story releases, I found I had overlooked In Other Worlds, published in 2011. I uploaded the iBook in the Portland airport, happy that Atwood is an important enough author that her non-fiction is available quickly in eFormat.

Without a doubt, this is the fastest I have read a work of non-fiction in memory. I read plenty of fiction, but non-fiction volumes usually end up piled next to the bed, waiting until I decide to pick them up and read a chapter between novels; Non-fiction on my iPad usually faces an even less active fate, but I found myself reading right through Atwood's reflection. That's really what it is, too: Atwood's musings on what she refers to as Speculative Fiction (what others generally categorize as Science Fiction)--a distinction she has been criticized for, but which holds up well in her telling of it. The book is a collection of material, loosely divided into three sections: the first in which Atwood discusses SF by way of Beowulf, Twilight, and everything in between, illustrated with drawings she made as a nine-year old (and not included in the print version of the book); the second in which she republishes reviews and analyses she wrote about SF works from recent centuries--from folks such as Swift, Huxley, Wells, Piercy, LeGuin, and Ishiguro; and the third in which she includes five short SF pieces she authored over the years.

All in all, the book was interesting and thought-provoking, as I was able to tell Atwood myself during the signing session after the panel ended. She smiled kindly in response. Either that, or she was smiling at the fact that I had purchased both the eBook and hardcover editions, recognizing that readers like me who want signatures from authors like her are one reason that print books may not be altogether obsolete in a double-profit future she imagines.

29-30.12: I'm Starved for You and I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth, by Margaret Atwood (2012, available in eBook only)

 Anyone who knows me well is aware of the fact that I am a big fan of Margaret Atwood's work. I've read everything she's written, whether poetry, fiction, children's picture books (Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut is a favorite of mine.) or nonfiction, and I wrote my master's thesis on three of her novels--exploring the way women use power in relationships with each other. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that I'd be willing to shell out $2.99 and $1.99--the cost of these two publications on iBooks--for two short stories. You might not be so eager to do so, but I for one have no regrets.

I'm Starved for You (I'm waffling on the choice of quotation marks or italics here, but I've decided to use italics as this is a single publication, despite its short length.) is what Atwood would refer to as a piece of ustopian speculative fiction. In an America that is spiraling into violence, poverty, and environmental degradation, one corporation finds a solution--and a way to maintain a comfortable profit margin. People are invited to volunteer to serve as inmates at a prison for monthly shifts, alternating with others who share their house when they are incarcerated. In this manner, people trade personal freedom for security and comfort. I'm sure you won't be surprised to find out that it's not quite that simple.

In I Dream of Zenia with the Bright Red Teeth, readers get to revisit characters from The Robber Bride. Roz, Charis, and Tony have weathered the years together and still provide emotional support across their different social circles. In this story, Charis reports on a dream she had, starring their former enemy, now deceased, dressed in a wolf's coat, and Roz and Tony spend time dissecting it and offering Charis advice about her love life and Billy's return to the scene. The story itself is charming, but what I really enjoyed was being reunited with these old friends. Anyone who was a fan of The Robber Bride will enjoy this story, with the only disappointment being that we didn't get more time with Charis, Roz, and Tony.

28.12: 1Q84, by Haruki Murakami (2011 handcover)

This is a HUGE book, and I'm a little over half way finished. I'm posting the entry now to encourage me to finish it. (It's too big to travel with, so it's not the best choice for my summer-traveling schedule!) So far I like the book and Muakami's writing, and am deterred only by said bulk, so let me know what you think if you've read it. A bit of a pep talk--without spoilers, please-- will help to spur me on. If you decide to read it, I highly recommend the e-version or the paperback, which was recently released in a three-volume set.

7/30 update: I forgot to grab this off the nightstand before my recent travels, and I've yet to get back to it. I will resume my reading soon, however: I want to both see how it concludes and get the massive volume off my bedside table. 

I did finally finish this--sometime in September, I believe. Interesting but odd, and very Japanese, if that makes sense to you. I'll have to read another Murakami book before I decide whether or not I like him. 

27.12: The Wind Through the Keyhole (A Dark Tower book), by Stephen King (Published 2012, iBook edition)

If you follow this blog, you know that I'm a Stephen King fan. For more on this--and for reviews of King books I've read since January 2011--simply click on the King tag in the right-hand column of my blog and you can catch up with my King fandom. 

Now that you are caught up, I'll have to say that I may love Stephen King books, but it's his Dark Tower series that I love the most.  Interestingly, the seven novels that make up King's original Gunslinger tales are likely the least known of his books. He's much more popular for his horror novels, and, while I'm a fan of those books as well, the Dark Tower series is superior for those who like books about fantasy worlds, such as Tolkien's Lord of the Rings or Pulling's His Dark Materials series. Since the books were published between 1974 and 2004 (Yep, that's a 30-year span, but you're a lucky reader because you won't have to wait for the next book to come out as I did!), I haven't reviewed them here, so let me provide you with a summary borrowed by the Official Dark Tower website: "The Dark Tower series tells the story of Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, who is traveling southeast across Mid-World’s post-apocalyptic landscape, searching for the powerful but elusive magical edifice known as The Dark Tower. Located in the fey region of End-World, amid a sea of singing red roses, the Dark Tower is the nexus point of the time-space continuum.  It is the heart of all worlds, but it is also under threat. Someone, or something, is using the evil technology of the Great Old Ones to destroy it." If that intrigues you, click this link to visit the site for more details about the books, their inspiration (Browning and Tolkien), etc.

Frankly, while this book claims to be a stand-alone volume, a supplement that would fall somewhere between volumes four and five in the series timeline, I wouldn't recommend it if you aren't familiar with the Gunslinger and his ka-tet--Eddie, Susannah, and Jake--and their billy-bumbler companion named Oy. While King goes to some pains to explain these characters (and the entire series premise) in a foreword, it seems to me that the world within the pages of this book would be much paler and shallow without the knowledge of the kingdom of Gilead and its demise that are explored in the earlier books. If you're looking for a great new world of adventure, I'd certainly start by reading the first four books in the Dark Tower series and adding this as volume 4.5. 

Now! Read them now! (Really, I highly recommend the series and am a bit jealous that you have the chance to encounter them for the first time.)

One caution: While I compared the Gunslinger books to Tolkien and Pullman--both with series read by younger audiences--King's books are for more mature readers. While they are by no means overly graphic, they do contain references to sex, drugs, and violence, and the characters swear just about as much as do a good number of humans you know. I'd say that these books are most appropriate for the teens and mature 'tweens of parents who understand that kids can read literature with adult themes and benefit accordingly.

26.12: Insurgent (Book 2 of Divergent series), by Veronica Roth (2012 hardcover)

In May of 2011, I recommended Divergent to those enjoying The Hunger Games. After reading Roth's second book in this series, Insurgent, I am not convinced that it is as good as HG, but it is still a decent TeenLit selection that will keep me looking for future releases.

To learn more about the premise of the Divergent series, check out my review of the first book. As with any series in general, but with TeenLit in particular, it's pretty important that you read these things in order. In fact, if you haven't read Divergent and plan to check it out, I'd suggest that you stop reading here so as not to encounter any spoilers.

If you're still reading, that means you've already read the first book, don't plan to read either, or simply are one of those (weird) people who reads the last page of a book first. Either way, I'm letting you know that Tris joined the Dauntless faction--something I withheld in my review of Divergent. As a member of this group, she fought a battle with Erudite, the faction that led a war on the other factions by controlling the minds of people in the remaining four groups and forcing them to engage in violence against each other. Some of the Dauntless actually joined the Erudite in this endeavor, and in the second book they are referred to as the Dauntless traitors. By the time the second book opens, there is a calm in the fighting, as Tris and other Divergent Dauntless (including the beloved Four/Tobias) were not affected by the simulation and managed to interrupt the mind-control activity.

In Insurgent, Tris and her fellow Dauntless leave their headquarters and spend time with both the Candor and Abnegation--in addition to making contact with the factionless outsiders of society. Ultimately Tris must decide whether she will remain faithful to her chosen faction or seek the truth regardless of the consequences. You may have a decent guess, but you'll have to read the book to find out whether or not you are right.

(PS: As with my reflection on the Delirium/Pandemonium series in my previous posting, I am also pondering what the third title in this series may be: Divergent, Insurgent, Convergent?)

25.12: Pandemonium, by Lauren Oliver (2012 hardcover)

In recent posts I've complained about the fact that the romance aspect of some of the recent teen novels I'd read had become overplayed. This is particularly true in sequels, where each book seems to get more and more focused on the characters' relationships and less on the societal constructs established in the early books. I'm a long way from being the target audience of these books, but I can't help wondering why this happens. If the teen readers liked the early books enough to continue with the series, didn't this indicate that they, too, were fond of the actual premise of the book? Why sideline the exploration of dystopic societies and ethical problem solving in favor of rated-PG kissing?

I can't really complain about the trend with this sequel, as I was forewarned by the very subject matter of the first. In fact, while getting ready to write this review, I went back and read my discussion of Delirium, the book before Pandemonium, and had to laugh at this observation: "This one leaned a bit too far toward the romance end of things for my taste; I can tolerate the romance as long as the world developed behind it is interesting and compelling.  In this book, however, the romance is center stage." Over the course of the review, though, I explored a few things I really liked about the book, and I suppose that's what I responded to when I saw it available at my local bookstore. Fortunately, in this book, Lena is on her own for the first half--which flashes back and forth between her life in the Wilds, beyond the fenced-off community of the standard society, and her reintegration into that society as a secret rebel. She may be pining for her lost love, but at least she is taking action and becoming a strong person as well. And, by the time the new boy comes into the picture, there's been time for Lena to explore the novelty of a society that allows self-expression and emotion and to see how the lack thereof is affecting the regime inside the walls.

I'm really hoping that Oliver's next book in the series (The ending of Pandemonium implies that there most certainly will be one.) continues in this direction. For now I'm trying to decide what the next book's title will be, seeing as it should really end with an -ium suffix.

23-24.12: The Final Warning and Max (Book 4 and 5 of the Maximum Ride series), by James Patterson (iBook, originally published 2008 and 2009)

I really enjoyed hearing James Patterson speak about kids and reading during a luncheon at the 2011 NCTE Convention, and I think his Read Kiddo Read website offers amazing resources for young readers and parents. These things have made me check out a couple of his book series for Tween and Teen youth, and the Maximum Ride series--about a flock of mutant bird kids who were experimented on in labs--is one of the more interesting. They have good story lines for both boys and girls, with both romance and fart jokes mixed in, as well as strong good-versus-evil plots and exposure to contemporary issues. In these two books in the series, for instance, global warming becomes the focus.

Considering the huge number of books Patterson is publishing annually, in both the adult and youth categories, he either gets no sleep or has a full cadre of ghost writers assisting him. In either case, his work is engaging if not brilliant, and these books are sure to be a hit with young readers.

21-22.12: The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played With Fire (Books 1 and 2 of the Millennium Trilogy), but Stieg Larsson (iBook versions, originally published in English in 2008 and 2009)

Stieg Larsson's trilogy was all the rage several years ago--fueled by the release of movies in both Swedish and English--and somehow in all the media frenzy I became convinced that I had read them. While killing time in an airport bookstore this summer, however, I took the time to read the back cover of The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and found that I hadn't, indeed, read it. I hopped on my iPad, downloaded the digital version, and soon became engrossed in the story and characters.

Prior to starting the novel, I mentioned it to my mother, a connoisseur of mystery novels, and she told me that she read Dragon Tattoo but didn't continue with the trilogy because it was too "dark." With my reading tastes, that was a bit of an endorsement. I also found that the pacing, storyline, and character development were engaging, and the cultural differences in the book made me less sure of what was going to happen next. Indeed, the relationships between characters, the description of political and social institutions, and the few bits of trivia I picked up about Larsson's Sweden were the things I most liked about the book.

In addition to exposing/discussing violence against women in an unsettling manner (the darkness my mother referred to), Larsson also does a very good job of making a societal misfit--the Girl of the titles--empathetic. The clash between the standard opinion of her and the view that a few others develop once they know her is startling, and it caused me to reflect on how this might be true in daily life. I did like the first book a bit more than the second, but that won't stop me from going on to read the third in the trilogy. 

I've heard mention of a few other Swedish authors I should check out if I liked these books, but I don't recall their names. If anyone has recommendations, please comment below.

Your recommendations?

As you can see, it's been some time since I posted my recent reads on this blog. A bout of laziness, less time spent reading, and the end of the semester simply caught up with me. In order to get myself back on track, I've posted entries for the books I've read in recent months (as best I can remember), but I don't have the time now to review and discuss them. I'm headed overseas for three weeks, and I plan to revive this blog upon my return. I'll be reading a lot, too: long flights with no sleep (I'm not a plane sleeper), lazy days with family in Spain, and the onset of summer in general should get me going again. In the mean time, perhaps you would be so kind as to post your book recommendations in the comments section here? I'd love to hear what you're reading.

20.12: Fifty Shades of Grey (Book 1 of the Shades of Grey trilogy), by E.L James (iBook edition, Pub. 2012)

I first heard about this book--which is actually the first of a trilogy--when visiting my aunt in City Island. After looking into it and learning that more copies have been sold online than any previous book in such a short time, or something of the the like, I had to check it out and see just why it is so popular. Having done so, I've found it really boils down to one thing: discreet, readily-available porn for women.

Porn might be a bit strong. I suppose some would make an argument for the label of erotica instead, and I could go along with that, but I would have to draw the line at calling it a romance. It's all about the sex, with a bit of storyline thrown in between encounters. Frankly, seeing as it's in a digital format, it seems like it would be easy to package it with the appropriate pump-and-grind soundtrack for the full effect. You'd need a decent number of whip and chain sounds mixed in as well, though, as this isn't your run-of-the-mill sex. Forget the bodice-rippers of past days, featuring what the main male character would declaim as "vanilla" sex: the majority of the sex here is of the S & M variety, and even when it's not, we're told that it really should be, and eventually will be. Like the main character, we should feel a bit horrified and guilty about that fact, while also finding it pretty hot.

I'm not judgmental or squeamish about what folks do in their bedrooms--or their torture chambers, as the case may be--but I really disliked this book for a number of reasons. Sure, there is some sexy stuff in it, and it's set in the hip Pacific Northwest, and everyone is beautiful and/or rich. However, it really grates on me that the protagonist of the novel, Anastasia Steele, is pretty much an adult version of Bella from the Twilight series. Like Bella, Ana has a mother living far away with husband/boyfriend number something, a father nearby who is kind but clueless, and friends who are completely unaware of anything she does. She is also beautiful without knowing it, smart without seeming to do any schoolwork or reading, and clumsy as all get out. Throw in an emotionally unavailable, brooding vampire--oh, I mean boyfriend--and there you have it.

In addition to being disappointed that a sexy novel aimed at women has to have such a terrible female role model and relationship at the center, the quality of writing is pretty dreadful. Even the names--a dominant named Christian Grey and a (potential) sub named Anastasia Steele--are ridiculous. About a third of the way through the book I stopped reading and then forced myself to go back and finish. I didn't really care about the characters or what happened--and I certainly don't have any interest in what unfolds in books two and three--but I felt like I should finish the first book so I could lambast it a bit more knowledgeably. 

Don't take my word for it, though. In addition to its original digital format, the book has now gone into print. The fact that it's the first book to make that transition--the reverse of usual publishing formats--is likely the most interesting thing about it.

18-19.12: Sizzling Sixteen and Smokin' Seventeen (Stephanie Plum novels), by Janet Evanovich (iBook edition, Pub. 2010/2011)

I've written about Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plum books before, and that's just as good a place as any to get the scoop if you are unfamiliar with the series. Check out my post for Books 11-14 and Book 15 before continuing.

The funny thing about Evanovich's novels is that I thoroughly enjoy reading them and then promptly forget what they are about almost as soon as I set them aside. It's been a few weeks since I read Sixteen and Seventeen, so all I haveare some vague associations of Stephanie's scuzzy cousin/boss getting kidnapped, the bail bonds office being burned down, Stephanie flirting with Ranger and Morreli, and Lula and grandma Mazur making me laugh hysterically. Along the way a lot of friend chicken and donuts are consumed.

And, really, that's just about perfect for summer reading, don't you think?

17.12: The Power of Six (Book 2, Lorien Legacies), by Pittacus Lore (2011 hardcover)

Finished yesterday. No time to review, but hope to catch up this summer. Stay tuned.

16.12: At Home: A Short History of Private Life, by Bill Bryson (Kindle, Pub. 2011)

Diqui bought this when she borrowed my Kindle for a trip last year, and Eddie and I have been reading it aloud when we travel or in the mornings when we have some time together on weekends. Finished in April at home.

15.12: The Rook, by Daniel O'Malley (iBook, Pub 2012)

Downloaded in SFO, read on way back from NYC in March.

14.12: The Demi-Monde: Winter (Book 1 of the Demi-Monde Saga), by Rod Rees

Downloaded in SFO and read on flight to and in NYC in March.

13.12: The Last Bookstore in America, by Amy Stewart (Kindle edition, Pub 2009)

First off, let me say that I have not failed to notice the irony that I read a novel about the decline of the bookstore on my iPad. Added to my guilt is the fact that Stewart is a local author and does, indeed, own a bookstore in my hometown. In fact, it's pictured on the front cover of the book. My guilt is slightly assuaged by the fact that I plan to purchase copies of the book in print as Christmas gifts for a number of people, but I've never been as aware of the issue of eBooks than I was while reading this book.

With that said, I have to say that I fully enjoyed this book. I downloaded it in the airport when traveling and found myself chuckling aloud at many parts. Much of the reason for my hilarity was the thinly-veiled discussion of small-time life in Eureka and surrounding Humboldt County. I recognized a good number of the characters--or at least parts of some people cobbled together to make a single character--places and settings were familiar, and social norms and attitudes were spot on.  While I think we likely come off a bit more charming and quaint in the book that we are in real life, reading this can give folks some idea of what it is like to live in rural, liberal, environmentalist, and--yes, of course--marijuana-influenced Northern California. I'd be curious to hear what folks that don't live here thought of the book.

As an aside, I want to mention that this is Stewart's first fiction release, but she has a number of amazing books on gardening: The Earth Moved: On the Remarkable Achievements of Earthworms (2005), Flower Confidential: The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful (2008),

Wicked Plants: The Weed That Killed Lincoln's Mother and Other Botanical Atrocities (2009), and Wicked Bugs: The Louse That Conquered Napoleon's Army & Other Diabolical Insects (2011). They make excellent gifts for the gardener, botanist, or nature lover in your life. Go buy them now. At your local bookstore.

11.12: A TeenLit novel that I currently can't recall

When middle age gives me a break, I'll post this entry. I'll remember--in the middle of the night, when I am doing the dishes, or another time I least expect it.

10.12: Goliath (Leviathan Book 3), by Scott Westerfeld (2011 hardcover)

This is the final book of Westerfeld's Steampunk trilogy and it doesn't disappoint. The WWII-with-a-twist setting continues to fascinate, and this volume brings in additional historical figures from the United States and Mexico in addition to new Clanker and Darwinist contraptions that are sure to please. An added bonus is that Westerfeld continues a thin vein of romance to keep the girls reading, while not letting it overwhelm the plot as so many other (primarily female) teen authors do. You can read more details about the underlying premise in my review of the second book in the series, Behemoth, but be sure to start with Leviathan in order to grasp the underlying concepts--and the kick of of WWII.

9.12: Crossed, by Ally Condie (2011 hardcover)

Fresh off the heels of complaining about the romance in my previous TeenLit read, I picked up this  teen romance. It seems a bad choice in retrospect, but I couldn't help myself; I read the first volume in the series some time ago and had been looking forward to the release of the second. In Entry 62, I discuss the first book, Matched, which I liked enough to call a teen version of 1984 or Brave New World. The Society (Yes, with a capital ess) depicted in Matched was interesting, allowing the romance to mellow in the background as readers were exposed to additional infringements on freedom taking place behind the calm, white-washed surface of Society.

In Crossed, though, Society takes back stage as Cassia and Ky struggle to define themselves, find each other, and survive in the Outer Provinces and beyond. There are only limited glimpses of the world they are escaping and the world they are fleeing to (likely not as ideal as Cassia believes), and during the remaining time were are stuck with the two young lovers, yearning, and long meaningful glances. The end of the book, however, left me with hope for the future of the franchise, as it is clear we are going to get dumped back into Society and unSociety in the third book. Please, Condie, tip the scales back to social commentary and away from moony teens.

8.12: Daughter of Smoke & Bone, by Laini Taylor (2011 hardcover)

I've been seeing this book on reading lists since it came out last September, and it has (literally) looked down at me from the shelves of bookstores. In the spirit of my read-the-books-on-my-shelves-and-only-buy-new-ones-that-continue-a-series-I-started pledge, however, I resisted the desire to buy it for four months. Then I stopped by Northtown Books a couple weeks back to get a few new volumes in some series I'm reading, and I added this to the pile as well. 

I have mixed feelings about the book, and not just because it was the book that led me to break my pledge. I'm realistic enough to know that was an inevitable event, and I'm a bit surprised I went as long as I did. Baby steps, and all that.  Rather than stemming from book-buying angst, my mixed emotions come from the fact that I really wanted to like the book and only sort of liked it. It has a lot of my favorite elements: good and evil, warrior angels, a battle between supernatural beings going on right outside human sight--chimera, in this case. Alas, what it also has--in spades--is romance. 

Per usual, the romance involves a teen (apparently) girl who is on the edge of society, in this case because she is an orphaned human (apparently) raised by chimera--beings of mixed human and animal traits. Of course, there's more to this odd picture than even Karou knows, and the truth begins to unfold when she encounters Akiva, a warrior angel. That in itself isn't a bad thing, but the ensuing focus on the love between Karou and Akiva is a bit too formulaic--even for someone who generally tolerates the teen romance formula to get some good fantasy/SciFi. It's the same complaint I made in my recent discussion of Cassandra Clare's newest book, and I'm wondering if it's simply time to take a bit of a break from TeenLit for a while. There's a sequel in store, of course, and we'll see if I've recovered from romance overload before it's released.  

7.12: Clockwork Prince (The Infernal Devices, Book Two), but Cassandra Clare (2012 hardcover)

Cassandra Clare has a skill for creating a rich fantasy world, replete with angel protectors, vampires, werewolves, demons, warlocks, and just about any supernatural being you can imagine. It's interesting packaging for her novels, which essentially boil down to teen romances. In theory, the supernatural/combat layer may be of interest to male teens, but I suspect that her readership is predominantly teen girls--with middle aged women like myself thrown in for good measure--all the better to brood over the stunningly handsome teen boys involved. 

Clockwork Prince is the second in a prequel series published after Clare's City of Bones books (The fourth of which I reviewed in Entry 35) were under way. Set in Victorian England, Infernal Devices  series readers are introduced to the fact that the battle between good and evil has been waged for a long time (as measured in teen years, at least), and provided the opportunity to explore the mores and clothing of the Victorian era along the way. I reviewed the first in the prequel series in Entry 7, so you can check out the premise there. In this second volume, Tessa's search for who she is--and who she loves--continues. Is she a warlock or something closer to her angelic friends? Will she end up with the angry, brooding, gorgeous angel or the kind, ill, gorgeous angel? Decisions, decisions...

5 and 6.12: The Fulminate Blade and The End (Jack of Fables Volumes 8 and 9), by Willinham, Sturges, Akins, Fern/Braun, Pepoy (2011 trade paperbacks, issues 41-45 and 46-50)

 It's the end of the road for our hero Jack of Fables, the charming bad-boy featured in a 50 issue spin off of Bill Willingham's fantastic Fables series. I did a relatively lengthy write up for a combined posting of trades 5-7, so you can check out some of the back story there to learn what it's all about.

The raucous tales of Jack--and his son Jack Frost--gallop over these final pages, complete with favorite characters and a few new ones as well. Fare thee well, Jack. See you between the pages of your many fairytales.